Giving gifts to voters during elections not bribery – Pratt

Editor of the Insight Newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr has argued that dolling out resources to voters with the aim of influencing the direction of their vote during elections does not amount to bribery.

Several political parties and civil society groups have condemned the practice of handing out goodies including money to persons during the political season and especially during elections.

It has been widely argued that the age-old practice has on most occasions led to a shift in voting patterns.

The practice, is said to be part of the reason why most voters fail to read and understand the policies and manifestoes of political parties before going out to vote.

Various household items and money is given to voters during elections to sway their votes. And it has been widely claimed that is part of the reasons why certain parties dominate in certain areas.

But the veteran journalist speaking on Adom FM’s Morning Show, ‘Dwaso Nsem’ Thursday claimed that the practice does not amount to bribery.

He argued that ‘it was just part of the custom of certain areas in the country to be dolling out resources to persons during visits.’ Kwesi Pratt insisted that giving out resources to voters does not sway their pattern of voting.

He added that if dolling out resources to persons, especially voters in the hinterlands could force voters to change their minds and vote for certain political parties, then certain regions and persons in the country wouldn’t have cast their votes the way they do now.

“What amount of asphalt did Rawlings not pour on the streets of Kumasi but still Ashanti Region is the stronghold of the NPP…there was a time when the Volta Region always boasted with traffic lights and that was all done by the Kufour administration but still the NDC has Volta as their world bank, so it hardly influences voting pattern,” he said.